A three-day cruise on CVN-69 offers a glimpse into how 4,500 sailors live aboard a floating city.

Machinist’s Mate 3rd Class Steve Drahota reunites with his daughter after returning from a seven-month deployment aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Dwight D. Eisenhower (CVN 69). Eisenhower is hosting a two-day Tiger Cruise for family and friends as it makes it way to its homeport of Norfolk, Va., after completing a seven-month deployment to the U.S. 5th and 6th Fleet areas of responsibility.

Editor's note: Erinn McGuire's stepfather, Cmdr. Robert Dare, is the top Supply Corps officer aboard the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower. After 31 years in the Navy, this will be his last sea deployment. He estimates that he has logged 12 years under way, either on aircraft carriers or under the ocean in a submarine. Here's a tiny glimpse in to how he and the 4,500 other sailors have spent many of their days.

It can accommodate 5,000 sailors and that's about how many people live in Bluffton, according to the last census.

There's a reason it's called a floating city. Except this metropolis at sea has a very specific mission of providing some major muscle for the United States. It comes with its own airport, too.

While the USS Eisenhower headed home from a seven month deployment in the Persian Gulf, Ike's fellow aircraft carrier, the USS George Washington sat off the coast of North Korea.

"If you see one of these off the coast, you know they mean business," said retired Capt. Joe Capalbo of Saranac Lake, N.Y. Capalbo, a former Navy jet pilot, was one of about 1,200 visitors to the USS Eisenhower. He came to visit his son, who shares the same name but different rank. I came to visit my stepfather, Cmdr. Robert Dare.

We had come for Tiger Cruise 2010, a three-day trek from Mayport, Fla., to Norfolk, Va.

We pull into port today.

The three-day trip was George Halfinger's first Tiger Cruise. The Sun City man visited with his grandson, 22-year-old Petty Officer Second Class Mark Halfinger.

"It's been a really lovely experience," the older Halfinger said. "You really get to feel what these young people are going through. What's really amazing is the logistics and how they handle this number of people, the food service alone. It's absolutely amazing."

Nearly 20,000 meals are served each and every day aboard the Ike.

That's exactly why the Tiger Cruises are important and organized, said Lt. Cmdr. Tommy Crosby, the ship's public affairs officer.

"This really helps our families and friends understand our role and our mission and really get to experience underway time," Crosby said, a 16-year Navy veteran who hails from Hampton.

On Monday, it was safe to say that all of the remaining sailors aboard Ike were very anxious to get home.

About 1,000 sailors debarked Monday in Mayport, making room for the 1,200 "Tigers." The ship's entire air wing left Tuesday and headed to Norfolk.

"They have been running hard for seven months and are ready to get home," said my stepdad, Rob. "All you basically do is eat, sleep and work. That's it."

Out to sea

Rob is the Ike's top Supply Corps officer and is in charge of acquiring everything from light bulbs to aircraft repair parts. That's 58,000 parts.

(He's a pretty organized guy.)

He was also the guy who landed some beer for these weary sailors after 70 days at sea.

While underway, the crew had only 18 days in port due to "world events," Rob said.

During a typical six-month deployment a crew aboard an aircraft carrier could expect anywhere between 25 to 30 days in port, Rob said.

The rule goes like this: If a ship hasn't had a port of call in at least 45 days and it's at least 5 days from port, sailors can toast their fellow sailors with two real brewskies.

"It was good, real good," Rob said.

Indeed.

A beer would have been fitting on the flight deck as tugboats turned this behemoth around in Mayport so Ike could set sail. The view from the ship's fan tail was spectacular. Dolphins played in the harbor, the sun blazed off the multi-hued sea. Turquoise Florida sea met with the gray water of the deep channel.

Home sweet home

Lt. Cmdr. Ben Cittadino, a pilot with VFA-83, said the last time he saw his son the little guy was 7 months old.

"When I left, he wasn't even crawling and now he's walking," Cittadino said Tuesday afternoon. "My previous two deployments I didn't have a son. This one has been the hardest."

Fellow F-18 hornet pilot Lt. Nicole Johnson said "life is on hold when you're out here."

Johnson said she spent the past 15 out of 20 months at sea.

"I don't have kids, but a lot of the guys do and they watch their kids grow up on the calendar board. I don't know how they do it, but it's for a good cause."

A felt board in the Rampagers "ready room" is filled with pictures of small smiling faces, pictures sent in the more than 12,000 pounds of mail the ship receives each week while out to sea.

Cittadino's squadron, the Rampagers, helped to put on an air show for the Tigers before flying home to Naval Air Station Oceana in Virginia Beach.

While we were standing on the flight deck, F-18s took off and landed and recreated bombing runs and close ground maneuvers overhead.

These guys travel fast, real fast. They can take off and shoot to 170 mph in 2 seconds flat.

One pilot punched it just as he was sweeping past the ship and broke the sound barrier at 700 mph. My insides lurched with the delayed "ka-boom." I was glad for the ear protection.

While deployed, VFA-83, along with the seven other squadrons, flew missions over Afghanistan.

Down below in the hangar bay, Halfinger, the man from Sun City, said the Tiger Cruise offered this:

"If anyone has the opportunity to do this with a grandson or a sibling, they should make every effort to do it and see what this whole Operation Enduring Freedom is all about."

Ike is big
The USS Eisenhower is hard to miss. Consider some of the following dimensions and facts about this floating city:
Length of the flight deck: 1,092 feet
Height keel to mast: 24 stories
Area of flight deck: 4.5 acres
Displacement: 100,000 tons
Desalination of water: 400,000 gallons a day
Number of light fixtures: 29,000
Number of meals served every day: 18,400
Average amount of mail received each week while deployed: 12,000 pounds (A record for this deployment was 65,000 pounds.)
Average annual operating cost: $160 million
Total crew: 4,500 sailors

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